Nothing Sensible: Erotic Haiku

Nothing Sensible: Erotic Haiku by Sue Dering, 1994, 11 card-stock pages, spiralbound paperback,5½ by 4¼ inches. $6.95 (plus postage?) from the author at P.O. Box 113, Glen Ellen, California 95442 [address no longer correct]. Remember Laurie Fox’s Sexy Hieroglyphics (Chronicle Books, 1993)? Sue Dering’s book is basically a rip-off of Fox’s original idea to split the lines of erotic haiku by cutting each page into thirds so you can mix and match the lines and create a large number of random poems. It is too bad this book does not acknowledge its obvious inspiration—there is nothing sensible about it. The book is a clever idea, but it’s been done before, and what’s more, these poems show only a superficial understanding of haiku aesthetics. Here’s an almost random sampling:

             symphony of flesh

your quivering tongue to my lips

       rain between my breasts